General Music Chat

anybody know where to find ivoroid tuning peg /machine head buttons for an old Harmony Archtop guitar and more importantly how to install them?.. I know they are basically melted on to (in this case) brass tuners "stems"..a trading partner brought me a Harmony archtop guitar this morning to look at and perhaps make an offer if 40 bucks was too high and I made an offer and snagged it knowing the buttons were dissolving away, what was left of the buttons dissolved all the way off while attempting to tune the guitar to check for intonation and such, tuning it with a pair of pliers ain't cuttin' it.. the repairmen/luthier at local music store said he has a set of buttons in stock and will install them for $22.00 ..prolly a deal but want to keep my costs down as much as possible since I will be selling it on eBay..maybe I ought to sell it "as is"?

22 bucks is not unreasonable to repair the flaw... You can demand A higher bid then on Ebay.

well, I guess nobody has any buttons in their parts bin.. those cheaper white plastic ones would work 3/32" shaft.. I see some that are glued on.. I bet they won't hold up though.. man, I must be a cheapskate but I see ivoroids at $3.70 EACH not counting shipping, and cheap PLASTIC sets are around 12 dollars on eBay with shipping NOT INCLUDED.. that really blows when you get a decent deal on the whole guitar and then have to nearly match the price of the guitar for some tiny little parts.. not fair I tell ya..

Why don't you go on line to Warmoth or any number of places you can find by simply typing in guitar tuning heads? That plastic crap ALWAYS sucked from day one. The first thing I did whenever I bought a new Gibson was to rip off the for-crap-tuners and order a set of Grover tuning heads or Shecter tuning heads. Why even bother with those things?

well Slacker, it's for a vintage Harmony archtop guitar, and don't want to modify it any more than necessary, and all I need is the buttons, the tuners/ strips type are fine with good gears and not seizing up.. also, money is a concern, cause I'm gonna flip the guitar as fast as I can, and don't want to get "upside down" on it.. see my post #1.. those old Harmony, Stella, Kraftsman, Kay, Regal, and so on and so forth guitars used bakelite back then and the machine head buttons with any age on them are notorious for crumbling into dust..

and even though it is wrong to post commercial activity on this board, I just thought if a good ole Joe had some buttons in his/her parts bin and wanted to ship them to me (and I pay shipping) it could save me 20 to 30 bucks.. they don't have to be new, used will work, there's a dude on eBay with some Harmony guitar tuning strips for a Rocket that he wants 19.75 + shipping for, but don't think they will size up without drilling new mounting holes which I don't want to do either..

I have a set that I took off from my Les Paul; I replaced them with Grovers. Not sure they would work for you. Someone told me to keep all original parts for a guitar but I can't see ever putting them back on.

do you think they would fit this?, or look appropriate for the styling? Klusons?

No I guess not, these are individual tuners.

That is a nice old guitar. I had the same thing happen on my '55 Les Paul Jr. A fresh set of buttons worked great. Dane, cough up the $22 lousy bucks and let your guitar tech fix it right.

Check around at local guitar shops. One of the repair guys might have some. I got mine that way for an old Harmony Bobkat. Heat the tuning peg stems with a propane torch, (A bic lighter will work in a pinch) and push the buttons on, make sure they are straight. Mine have held up for a long time.

Any place that deals with guitar repairs and especially vintage guitars should have the buttons, I think I paid a dollar each for mine, maybe less. I know I needed 3 and it was under 5 bucks.

Here it is after repair and in action. Great for slide.



This guitar needed the grommets on 3 tuners as well, bridge plate was split and had to be glued, volume and tone pots extremely scratchy so some contact cleaner was needed, a good set up and cleaning, and I found it marked April 1, 1966 inside the pickup cavity. I still have it, tuned to open D for slide and play it now and then at home for practice, it's been onstage with me for 20 years too. [/img][/code]

Check around at local guitar shops. One of the repair guys might have some. I got mine that way for an old Harmony Bobkat. Heat the tuning peg stems with a propane torch, (A bic lighter will work in a pinch) and push the buttons on, make sure they are straight. Mine have held up for a long time.

Any place that deals with guitar repairs and especially vintage guitars should have the buttons, I think I paid a dollar each for mine, maybe less. I know I needed 3 and it was under 5 bucks.

Here it is after repair and in action. Great for slide.



This guitar needed the grommets on 3 tuners as well, bridge plate was split and had to be glued, volume and tone pots extremely scratchy so some contact cleaner was needed, a good set up and cleaning, and I found it marked April 1, 1966 inside the pickup cavity. I still have it, tuned to open D for slide and play it now and then at home for practice, it's been onstage with me for 20 years too. [/img][/code]

I tried all 6 music stores in Springfield, and only Springfield Music had the corrects buttons.. they wanted almost as much for the buttons by themselves in comparison to how much I got it done today for.. now I have a $150.00 guitar.. my biggest problem is falling in love with guitars and never getting rid of them.LOL..

my biggest problem is falling in love with guitars and never getting rid of them.LOL..

That's not a problem unless your wife thinks you have 'too many guitars' - like mine does!

Too many guitars??? BLASPHEMY!!!!

I don't know, I think collecting a bunch of guitars is silly. You really only need a couple of electrics (for me a Strat and a Les Paul), a good six string acoustic and maybe a 12-string. I know guys that buy older guitars as investments or whatever, but to me they're like hammers, how many do you need?